Blockchain can prevent fake news, build trust: LinkedIn co-founder

Fake news and manipulation pose as the biggest challenge to the online community, and blockchain technology can solve that, according to Eric Ly, a blockchain guru and co-founder of global business social network LinkedIn.

“Despite the fact that that we depend on the internet and digital services for so much of our lives now, it is actually hard to trust the internet,” argued Ly during a session titled “From Dot.Com to Crypto - Is It For Real This Time?” at the 19th World Knowledge Forum (WKF) in Seoul on Wednesday. Ly, co-founder and founding chief technology officer of LinkedIn, currently runs a blockchain-based trust protocol Hub.

Ly pointed out information on the internet can be easily manipulated, raising concerns of people making wrong decisions based on information that is “not accurate.” He proposed such limitation of lacking trust on the internet can now be solved through the use of blockchain and even shift the current “internet of information” to “internet of value,” making online transactions of real assets like real estate properties worth millions of dollars possible.

이미지 확대

He presented blockchain’s core trait as making stored data “immutable.” A blockchain is a growing list of records. “Each new piece of information depends on the previous piece of information, every piece is linked and every piece relies on the cryptographic security of the last piece,” explained Ly, as he added it is “impossible” to change data already written on without affecting the data that come next. And this “idea of immutability” would allow people to store “things of value” on the blockchain, he proposed.

Ly projected blockchain will completely change the global economic system. He said there are only two companies (Amazon.com and Apple) in the world whose market cap exceeds $1 trillion, but projected the number to grow bigger with the spread of blockchain-based network.